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Combadge
The combadge was a combination of a badge and communicator designed to be worn on a uniform. In Starfleet, the combadge replaced standalone communicators in the early 24th century. ( ) However, they were in use as early as 2256 by organizations such as Section 31. ( ) Similar devices were used by other organizations, including the Bajoran Militia. In Starfleet, the combadge was worn on the left breast of the person's uniform, whereas the Bajoran Militia's combadge was worn on the right breast of the uniform. They were activated by tapping them once and deactivated by tapping them twice. ( ; ; ) (Note: the EMH of used this technique not to deactivate his combadge, but to gain the attention of the ship's crew.) ( ) Combadges were used for on-board ship communication with other Starfleet personnel when using the internal communication system was impossible or impractical, for accessing the on-board computer when not in an area that the computer is monitoring, for ship-to-shore communications, and for direct communication to another combadge. Combadges were configured to act as universal translators. ( ; ) A Bajoran combadge is capable of recording logs such as that of the chief of security. ( ) Starfleet combadges silently provided identification to starship computers. For example, when a person wearing a combadge accessed a certain console, the computer logged the individual's identification to that access. ( ) As a security feature, combadges could only be activated by those that were assigned to them, identified by biometric fingerprint data. ( ) A combadge was considered standard equipment for all station personnel aboard Deep Space 9. ( ) The Starfleet combadge was a crystalline composite of gold, microfilament, silicon, beryllium, and carbon-70. ( ; ) Due to the size of the combadge, its working range was limited to five hundred kilometers, although a starship could boost the signal to bridge larger distances. ( ) The combadge could be opened for maintenance purposes or to be used as a beacon. ( ; ) A combadge could also contact or be reached by a starship even if it was traveling at warp speed. ( ; ) )]] In emergency situations, a combadge could be modified for use in other applications. It could be converted into a subspace distress beacon, or the tiny power cell could be extracted for other uses. ( ) Lieutenant Worf used it to power a homemade field generator for several seconds. ( ) In 2374, Kathryn Janeway of the was able to modify Seven of Nine's Borg implants to escape the brig of the using pieces of her combadge. ( ) If the casing of the combadge was ever cracked, an emergency distress signal was emitted, mainly to help searchers locate victims. ( ; ) Combadges, when destroyed by an electrical force, could cause damage to the wearer's clothing. ( ) As a symbol of loss of membership in Starfleet, personnel that had resigned or had been relieved of duty were required to turn in their combadges. Additionally, personnel confined to a brig were not permitted to retain their combadges during their confinement. ( ; ; ) Taking off one's combadge constituted taking off one's uniform. ( ; ) uses a combadge to set transporter coordinates]] Combadges could be used by the transporter as a way to lock on to Starfleet personnel; more generally, the transporter could lock onto any person or object with a combadge attached or nearby, thus making transport faster and more accurate. Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge used his combadge to allow the transporter to beam off an explosive device that the Ansata terrorists planted on the during their mission on Rutia IV. ( ; ) When Ferengi briefly took over the Enterprise in 2369, they were captured by attaching combadges to them and using the badges to beam them into a secured transporter room. ( ) Commander Benjamin Sisko used his combadge to beam the embryonic lifeform off Deep Space 9 into space in 2369. ( ) A Starfleet combadge was one of the items the Dopterian thief put on the table after Constable Odo arrested him. ( ) While escaping Major Kira in 2369, Chief O'Brien and Commander Sisko left their combadges in an airlock corridor to prevent being found by the Bajorans. ( ) At least five combadges have been left by Starfleet personnel on Earth centuries before they were invented; Lieutenant Commander Data sold his combadge to Frederick La Rouque for three dollars in the year 1893 to buy his way into a poker game. ( ) Henry Starling confiscated the combadge of Kathryn Janeway and the holographic combadge of The Doctor in 1996. ( ) The combadges of Commander Benjamin Sisko and Dr. Julian Bashir were stolen while they were incapacitated on the streets of San Francisco in 2024. ( ) According to Commander Chakotay, Captain Kathryn Janeway had a particular way of fiddling with her combadge which indicated that she was about to drop a bombshell. ( ) File:Starfleet combadge, 2364.jpg|A black-bordered combadge only used through early 2365 File:Provisional officer combadge.jpg|Provisional officer's variant, 2360s File:Bajoran combadge.jpg|2360s Bajoran combadge File:Opened combadge, 2360s.jpg|An opened combadge (2360s) File:Combadge interior.jpg|An opened combadge (2370s) See also *Starfleet insignia Background information The Starfleet insignia pin first used in later became a combadge, as Lieutenant Richard Castillo can be seen pressing his and speaking into it in . The combadge with the rectangular back was designed for Star Trek Generations and first seen in the episode , before being used continually in the series and . It also appeared in the four ''Next Generation'' movies. When the combadge first appeared in TNG, it appeared to be larger than the prop used in later seasons. It was also referred to as a communicator rather than a combadge by Beverly Crusher in and . There have been three possible future combadges used in Star Trek: *In the combadge used in the false future comprised the delta shield and rectangular strips behind it signifying rank, doing away with rank pips; while in the same combadge was seen again alongside rank pips. The backing strips were colored either gold, silver, or black depending on the rank of the wearer; admiralty had a starred gold delta with silver backing strips. *The second future combadge seen comprised a delta shield outline backed by two vertical gold quadrangles, used as early as an alternate 2390. This badge has been seen in , , , and . A very similar style was later made canon in . *Also seen in Voyager is a 29th century combadge. This is a "winged" arrowhead, similar in style to the insignia found on a 24th century starship hull. It has been seen in the episodes , and . File:Parallel Starfleet combadge.jpg|Appears in a simulation and at least one quantum universe File:Starfleet combadge, 2390s.jpg|Used in at least four future timelines File:29th century combadge.jpg|Used in the 29th century External link * fr:Combadge nl:Combadge ru:Комбедж Category:Communications technology